Download Rome`s Internal Crisis

AUGUSTUS (1),
Savior of the Roman World
1. In a paragraph, explain how Augustus can be
considered a forerunner of Jesus
2. Who were the patricians, plebeians and
equestrians?
3. What were the roles of the following: consuls,
tribunes, senators?
4. How were the patricians making their fortune?
5. Why was Octavian seen as Julius’ natural heir?
6. What strategies did Octavian use against Antony?
7. Give the 5 Ws of the Battle of Actium
8. Why was Octavian seen as “Son of God” and
“Savior of the World”?
Before Jesus of Nazareth existed, and even if Jesus had never existed, there already
was in the first century Mediterranean world a human being who was called “Divine”,
“Son of God”, “God Incarnate”, “God from God”, “Lord”, “Redeemer”, “Liberator” and
“Savior of the World”. Those were the titles of Caesar Augustus before Jesus ever existed.
This handout explores the historical origins of these titles, which are written in the stones
scattered on the ground throughout the Mediterranean world. Clearly, Roman imperial
theology has helped shape the conceptual framework of early Christianity and the
persona of Jesus. This syncretic aspect of Christianity is what initially made it appealing
to some Roman citizens. The new Christian faith borrowed heavily from pre-existing
pagan doctrines and terminology, making it easier for the Romans to understand and
relate to a Christian message that was both a departure from and a continuation of
Roman imperial theology. In other words, Christianity was able to make something
totally new out of the old.
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From Republic to Empire: civil war
From its origins, Rome had two basic classes: the patricians and the plebeians.
Patricians were from the oldest noble families of Rome. Plebeians, who were most
people in Rome, were anyone non-noble. Some plebeians could become very wealthy,
though most were poor. These wealthy plebeians soon formed a third class called
“equestrians” since they could afford to own horses. Most of these equestrians were
from the rising merchant class (this is similar to the hoplite class among the Athenians in
Greece).
From its beginnings, Rome was ruled by the patrician class. Remember that since
the Etruscans, Rome had no kings. Kings (“Rex” in Latin) were indeed negatively
associated with the bad times of Etruscan rule. Instead, similar to many Greek cities, the
Romans had 2 Consuls, whose job was to lead the armies in combat and enforce the laws
of the Roman Senate. The Senate itself was composed of 300 of the noblest patricians
and it was their job to make the laws (the equivalent of the Council of 500 in Athens).
The plebeians had their own assembly, again just like in Greece, but this assembly had
very little say. By the 5th century, the plebeians had won the right to elect Tribunes.
These tribunes were representatives of the plebeians who sat in the Senate chamber
during debates. They had the right to veto (Latin word for “I forbid!”) any law which they
felt was against the interest of the plebeian class. But despite the creation of this
Tribunate, patricians still dominated politics.
As the Roman Republic grew in size, the division between patricians and plebeians
also grew. Though plebeians were allowed to serve in government, only patricians would
rise in rank. For example, only patricians could serve as a consul for six months to a year,
a position that might open the door to the high office of governor. Governors would rule
over one or several provinces of the growing Republic. They could exploit the local
population through taxation and become wealthy. Corruption and greed became
rampant during that time.
One might wonder why the plebeians were not gaining anything from the Roman
conquests in Europe. First, in the early Republican period, soldiers received no pay for
service in the army: serving was considered their duty, period. Unlike modern military
service where you serve for four to six years and then can leave, in Rome you served in
the army until you were dead, wounded, or the war ended. Considering the large
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numbers of wars that Rome was fighting from 509 B.C. to 100 B.C.E, many soldiers were
away from their homes for years. They would return home, often to find their farms in
ruins. Where did all these now unemployed soldier-farmers go? Most went to the one
place they might find a job – Rome. It was really the only real large city in Western
Europe. Soon, Rome began to fill with poor, unemployed people. Its size swelled from
tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people, and many of these people were
very unhappy with the government.
In the meanwhile, the patricians were becoming filthy rich not only by overtaxing
their provinces, but also by selling grain and weapons to the State. And why was this so
profitable? Because who the state was governed by the patricians themselves, who would
sell grain and weapons, overcharge the state for these items, and then make the taxpayers
pay the bill. These tensions between rich and poor soon led to the creation of two
political parties in Rome, the “optimates” and the “populares”. The Optimates were those
who favored rule by patricians, and were mostly nobles. The Populares were those who
favored the rights of plebeians. Most of the populares were plebeians themselves, but
some of the equestrian class began to join the populares, too. These equestrians
constituted a new, young rising class of men who really did not fit into the patrician class
and thus were often cut of from the highest positions in government. They saw that if
they supported the plebeians, the plebeians might help them gain power. By the 2 nd
Century B.C.E, civil war broke out.
The Rise (and fall) of Julius Caesar
Three men basically seized power, this being the First Triumvirate. These three
men were Pompey the Great who had won great victories in Asia Minor, Crassus who
plays a relatively minor role here, and the up and coming new equestrian Julius Caesar.
They did not actually seize the government, but through influence among their friends
and with bribes they were able to determine who got what jobs in Rome and the
provinces. Caesar was given command of the army in Gaul; Crassus off Asia Minor, and
Pompey remained in control of Rome. To cement the ties between them, Caesar gave
Pompey his daughter in marriage. However, this balancing act of three people in power
could no be maintained. Caesar’s daughter died and Crassus was killed in battle. This left
only Pompey and Caesar. Both would settle for nothing less than total control over Rome.
The optimates soon chose Pompey as their champion and the Senate lined up to support
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him. The people of Rome, pleased at the great victories that Caesar was winning in Gaul
(he had conquered all of Gaul up to the border with the Germanic territories at the Rhine
river), supported Caesar.
In 49 B.C.E, Pompey and the Senate ordered
Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome.
Pompey was fearful that Caesar’s conquests were
making him too popular. Caesar refused to disband his
army and instead marched on Rome. Pompey with his
supporters and most of the Senate fled to Greece,
where in 48 B.C.E they were defeated by Caesar.
Pompey escaped and attempted to escape to Egypt, which Rome did not yet control. The
boy-pharaoh of Egypt, Ptolemy, was fearful that if he took Pompey into his country Caesar
would soon conquer him, too. So Ptolemy had Pompey stabbed to death. When Caesar
arrived in Egypt looking for Pompey, Ptolemy presented him with the head of the dead
senator. Rather than being pleased, Caesar was outraged that this Egyptian had dared to
lay hands on a Roman senator. Also, Ptolemy’s sister, Cleopatra, urged Caesar to kill her
brother. Caesar went to war against Ptolemy and the boy was killed in battle against the
Romans. Caesar took Cleopatra as his mistress and she was given the rule of Egypt.
Julius Caesar was now the sole ruler of Rome. He spent time in Egypt enjoying
Cleopatra’s company and the luxury of Egypt. While there the Egyptians declared him a
god since he was the equal of their queen. While it seems that Caesar himself did not
believe that he was a god, he appears to have become used to the idea of absolute power.
When he returned to Rome it was a triumph. Not only had he defeated the enemies of the
populares, but he had added the wealth of Egypt to Rome’s greatness. This would play a
crucial role in Roman history as it was the grain of Egypt that would feed the masses of
unemployed poor in Rome and those grain shipments became vitally important to the
social stability of the Empire. There was talk in Rome of perhaps declaring Caesar consulfor-life, or maybe even king? Some say he meant to declare himself a god in Rome. He did
use his power wisely, however. He pardoned many of his enemies in the Senate rather
than having them killed. He gave land and work to the poor. He strengthened the laws
against corruption in the government. He planned a highway to cross all of Italy. He even
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had created a calendar, the Julian calendar, which became the predecessor to our modern
Gregorian calendar.
Augustus, “Son of God”
Despite Julius Caesar’s good works, though, there were many who distrusted him,
especially among the senators, the most famous ones being Brutus and Cassius. They
organized a conspiracy against him and on March 15, 44 BCE, he was stabbed to death in
the Senate building. The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death
precipitated the end of the Roman Republic. The Roman middle and lower classes, with
whom Caesar was immensely popular and had been since the invasion of Gaul, became
enraged that a small group of aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, who had
been drifting apart from Caesar, capitalized on the grief of the Roman mob and
threatened to take control of Rome himself. To his surprise and chagrin, Caesar in his will
had named his grandnephew Gaius Octavian his sole heir, bequeathing him the
immensely potent Caesar name and making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the
Republic. Julius was deified as Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth
became Divi filius ("Son of a god").
Augustus, “Savior of the World”
Julius Caesar’s murder led to a renewed struggle for power. Leading the pack was
Marc Antony who was one of Caesar’s generals and the co-consul for that year with
Caesar. To ensure his succession to power, Antony allied himself with two others, Lepidus
who was one of Caesar’s lieutenants, and Octavian Caesar who was the grandnephew of
Julius Caesar. Their armies occupied Rome and the Senate was forced to submit to their
rule. This Second Triumvirate divided the Republic and its provinces amongst
themselves: Antony took the east with Greece, Asia Minor, and
Egypt; Ledipus took control of North Africa except for Egypt;
and Octavian Caesar was given the western portion including
Spain and Gaul. But once again, this division of power simply
could not last. Octavian (who was only 19) was extremely
clever and determined to push his way the top at any cost.
Sharing the same last name as his great uncle’s, Octavian was
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popular among regular Romans. He was seen by many in Rome as the true descendant of
the Julian family.
Antony recognized that Octavian was becoming a threat. In 36BCE, Octavian had
even persuaded the Senate to remove Ledipus from his post as governor of North Africa.
Marc Antony ended the alliance, divorced Octavian’s sister to join… yes, that’s right…
Cleopatra. The two had become very close and there was some suggestion that Antony
form his own empire in the east using Egypt as the center of his kingdom. Egypt had
become very strategic, since it provided Rome with most of its grain. Furthermore,
Cleopatra also had a son by Julius Caesar, giving her some claim to the control of Rome. In
32 BCE, Octavian decided to activate the propaganda machine. It is suspected that he
produced a letter which he claimed contained Antony’s will. In this will, Antony left all of
Rome’s eastern provinces to Cleopatra after his death. Some historians are still arguing
whether this will was real or just a fake that Octavian had written for the occasion, but
the bottom line is that the people of Rome believed it and were angry. The Senate gave
Octavian permission to go against this Empire of Evil and forcibly remove Antony from
power and declare war on Cleopatra. In 31 BCE, in the naval battle of Actium off the
coast of Greece, the Roman fleet defeated the Egyptian navy. And soon afterwards,
Cleopatra and Antony committed suicide.
Octavian returned to Rome a hero, and the lone remaining power. The Republic
had met its end and the Empire was beginning. Rome would still be called a Republic,
even though the Empire had begun. Upon his return, Octavian made a grand show of
symbolically returning all the powers that had been given to him back to the Senate. The
Senate, aware of the dangerous power vacuum that Octavian’s resignation would create,
gave him back all his powers, and much more: the complete control over the army. The
Senate still met and made laws and appointed officials; there were still consuls elected
and tribunes, etc, but real power (and everyone knew this too), had slipped into the
hands of a single person, the Imperator.
The key battle of Actium became mythical, Virgil making reference to it in the
Aeneid as part of a propaganda campaign aimed at establishing Octavian as the “Savior of
the Roman world” and “Son of God”.
As a result, Octavian was granted the title
“Augustus”, or “imminent One”, a title close to that of “messiah” if it were in a Jewish
context. These titles would soon be used to describe someone radically different from
Augustus: a poor peasant from the remote Roman province of Galilee…
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